Christmas comes early as Britain's workers down tools for office parties

Last updated at 17:56 14 December 2007

Christmas is only around the corner, but for employees it appears it cannot come soon enough.

Despite the big day still being a full working week away, they are already winding down for the holidays and focusing more on partying than their jobs.

Work will be far from a top priority with people gossiping, taking long lunches and nipping out on last minute shopping trips instead of knuckling down.

One in three employees - the equivalent of around nine million people - admit they will "mentally switch off" at 5pm today.

Not only will workers be on a go slow in the office next week, many plan to start late and throw a sickie on at least one day of the week, research reveals.

A survey by Teletext holidays of more than 2,500 workers pinpoints December 14 as the day when the party season really takes hold.

From this point on, productivity plummets as banter in the office soars as those not already on holiday are distracted by Christmas and start slowing down.

The usual standards also seem not to apply, because more than half of British workers said coming in to work with a hangover during the festive season was acceptable.

Nearly a quarter revealed they plan to go out on up to 10 work nights during December and a fifth had up to five long lunches booked in.

And nearly a third of those still at work next week said they plan to come in late at least once while one in five said they planned to throw at least one "sickie".

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Overall, half of the British workforce admitted to noticeably slowing down in the build-up to the festive break.

More than a third of workers said December 14 was the threshold when this more relaxed approach kicked in and Christmas started to takeover.

Four in ten workers also said that seeing colleagues leaving the office early for Christmas made them more likely to skive themselves.

Almost a third admitted they would make up meetings to give them a chance to nip out and buy a last minute present.

Nearly two-thirds said they considered extra-curricular activity in the office to be a vital part of the holiday season.

Planning a post-Christmas break is also a distraction for nearly a quarter, who revealed they would spend time during December planning their next holiday.

Matt Cheevers, managing director of Teletext holidays, said: "This time of year is usually marked by a drop in the levels of intensity and productivity in the office, as the effects of trying to burn the candle at both ends and a dismal summer take their toll."

As people start working less and focusing on the holiday, they might look to scientist Professor Rudi Dallos, who claims to have come up with a mathematical formula for the perfect Christmas.

The key is to spend three days with eight family members and give them four presents each, spending £23 on each person, the academic says.

According to his formula, people should also take two walks and drink two parts of wine to every three chocolates.

The equation also says that to enjoy the best Christmas dinner, we should eat five parts turkey to one part nut roast.

Prof Dallos, director of the school of applied psychosocial studies at Plymouth University in Devon, said: "Christmas tends to involve a large number of family members brought together for several hours, provision of lots of food and drink and, of course, the all-important presents.

"This can potentially create a recipe for disaster, therefore in order to have a stress-free day it's essential to get the variants right."

His formula equates the perfect Christmas (PX) to the number of family members (F), number (P) and cost (£) of Christmas presents given, number of walks taken (W), number of games played (G), the amount of wine and chocolate (W:C) consumed and the ratio of turkey to nut roast (T:R).

He says that by dividing that by the total days (D) you spend with your family, you have the perfect Christmas.